Gear may not make the film, but you won’t be making a film without gear. So here are some tips and reviews.

Color spectrometers are important for testing the color quality of lights used in your video and film projects. Many common color indices — such as CRI and TLCI — only tell a small fraction of a very large picture. Without fully looking at the color quality of your lights you may find out in post that you used a low quality light for your scenes, which ended up destroying the color in your image.

This article discusses how to use the average color spectrometer, what color characteristics to look out for, how to understand all the data and graphs, and how to take the spectrometer to the next level such as comparing light from a fixture before and after adding gels like CTO, minus green, and others.

In future articles we will look at specific spectrometers — such as Sekonic C700, UPRTek CV600, Asensetek Lighting Passport Essence Pro, and Asensetek Lighting Passport Standard Pro — along with their specific features and some of their limitations.

The ZERO follow focus lens gear ring by Broken Anchor Design overcomes all of the problems other lens rings have: it centers itself, is seamless, fits many lenses, and attaches in seconds. No other lens gear ring can do this, which is why we’re so excited to see that Broken Anchor Design has finally made it happen.

We got chance to review the Cool-Lux Classic Cool-Rig, which has the innovative SHIFT Baseplate at its center. What’s impressive about this baseplate is the built-in shoulder mount /chest support that flips down, making the transition from tripod to shoulder quick and easy.

Also part of the rig (and review) are the Cool-Lux walnut grip, universal cheese plate, and three prong battery mount, and well as their carbon fiber iris rods.

Aputure has done it again with two amazing lights: the tungsten balanced 1.5kW point source Light Storm COB 120t and the daylight balanced “camera mounted LED” Amaran M9. Both have VERY high CRI (Ra)/ CRI (Re) / TLCI / CQS / TM30-15 results, with some of the best R9 (saturated red) values of 160 different LEDs that we’ve tested.

LED ribbon lights are thin, flexible and have limitless possibilities on-set to light your video projects. They now allow you to place light anywhere, including in the palm of an actor’s hand, a prop, or taped to a wall or railing. We cover how to work with ribbon LEDs, review three common brands along with their CRI values, and then suggest useful LED ribbon accessories.

When it comes to LEDs the majority of affordable options on the market do not produce great results. So we were a bit skeptical when we first heard of Aputure’s low cost LED lights. Our results: wow! In this video, we’ll share with you our real world experience with them and how they actually perform on-set.

While some new camera operators may think a follow focus is an unnecessary gadget, they truly are a crucial part of nearly every camera set-ups. Not only do follow focuses make focusing the lens a million times easier and more ergonomic, but it allows you to accurately mark different focus distances.

Last week I covered how a light meter is still necessary in our digital age. This week it’s time to learn how to use the light meter. In this video I cover the incident meter and the spot meter, and when to use them. Then it’s demonstration time, using the meter in different ways to properly expose a scene. Finally, I give you some tips and tricks on how to quickly determine the lighting ratios and range of your scene, along with a few more.

Did you know that LEDs lights may actually be ruining the look of your productions? And no, this problem can’t be fixed in the grade. We put seven different brands of LEDs lights to the test, capturing with a Red Epic Dragon camera. Then we discuss the results and how they’re going to affect the creative choices that you make on set.

Is it possible to have a lightweight, high quality, reasonably priced matte box that works on a number of camera rigs? In this review we take a close look at the Bright Tangerine Misfit Matte Box to see if it delivers.

Tricks of the Trade

LED Database

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